about to move, southwards to attack Estcourt, and endeavour to strike Pietermaritzburg.  The movement that we had awaited for ten days impended.  Accordingly certain military preparations, which I need not now specify, were made to guard against all contingencies, and at daylight on Wednesday morning another spray of patrols was flung out towards the north and north-west, and the Estcourt armoured train was ordered to reconnoitre towards Chieveley.  The train was composed as follows:  an ordinary truck, in which was a 7-pounder muzzle-loading gun, served by four sailors from the ‘Tartar;’ an armoured car fitted with loopholes and held by three sections of a company of the Dublin Fusiliers; the engine and tender, two more armoured cars containing the fourth section of the Fusilier company, one company of the Durban Light Infantry (volunteers), and a small civilian breakdown gang; lastly, another ordinary truck with the tools and materials for repairing the road; in all five wagons, the locomotive, one small gun, and 120 men.  Captain Haldane, D.S.O., whom I had formerly known on Sir William Lockhart’s staff in the Tirah Expedition, and who was lately recovered from his wound at Elandslaagte, commanded.

We started at half-past five and, observing all the usual precautions, reached Frere Station in about an hour.  Here a small patrol of the Natal police reported that there were no enemy within the next few miles, and that all seemed quiet in the neighbourhood.  It was the silence before the storm.  Captain Haldane decided to push on cautiously as far as Chieveley, near which place an extensive view of the country could be obtained.  Not a sign of the Boers could be seen.  The rolling grassy country looked as peaceful and deserted as on former occasions, and we little thought that behind the green undulations scarcely three miles away the leading commandos of a powerful force were riding swiftly forward on their invading path.

All was clear as far as Chieveley, but as the train reached the station I saw about a hundred Boer horsemen cantering southwards about a mile from the railway.  Beyond Chieveley a long hill was lined with a row of black spots, showing that our further advance would be disputed.  The telegraphist who accompanied the train wired back to Estcourt reporting our safe arrival, and that parties of Boers were to be seen at no great distance, and Colonel Long replied by ordering the train to return to Frere and remain there in observation during the day, watching its safe retreat at nightfall.  We proceeded to obey, and were about a mile and three-quarters from Frere when on rounding a corner we saw that a hill which commanded the line at a distance of 600 yards was occupied by the enemy.  So after all there would be a fight, for we could not pass this point without coming under fire.  The four sailors loaded their gun—­an antiquated toy—­the soldiers charged their magazines, and the train, which was now in the reverse of the order in which it had started moved, slowly towards the hill.